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Casey Novak
|division = Sex Crimes Bureau White Collar Bureau |precinct = 16th Precinct |title = Senior ADA |family = Unnamed father Unnamed ex-husband |occupation = Assistant District Attorney |status = Alive |first = "Serendipity" |last = "Valentine's Day" |playedby = Diane Neal }} Casey Novak (born September) is an Assistant District Attorney for the Sex Crimes Bureau. Background It was revealed in early season 5 that Casey graduated from Harvard Law School and used to clerk for Judge Mary Clark. She initially joined the Manhattan DA's office in the Investigations department in the White Collar division. On SVU Casey replaced Alexandra Cabot in the episode "Serendipity" after Cabot joined the Witness Protection Program. She was shown to be a persistent and tough ADA. Elizabeth Donnelly later states that she has a 71% conviction rate. At first, she did not get along with the SVU detectives, particularly Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson, who saw her as arrogant and distant. Eventually, however, she learned how to be more of a team player, and became close to the SVU squad. Her first case dealt with a child rapist and Casey ended up saving one of the victims herself, figuring out that the rapist, Peter Nestler, was a fisherman and later where he stashed the girl. She then carries the victim to safety herself while Nestler is arrested. At the end of the episode, she asked Arthur Branch if she could have out of the job because she couldn't let go of what happened to the little girl she saved. Branch denied the request, saying that at first he wasn't sure if Casey was right for the job, but the fact she was affected by the case showed him that she was perfectly suited for it. In the episode "Night", Casey was brutally attacked by the brother of a victim of serial rapist Gabriel Duvall; she was beaten so severely that she had to go to intensive care. In the season 6 finale, "Goliath", she is a supporter for the Troops saying that her father was a door gunner on a Huey in Vietnam. He was in 3 chopper crashes and received a Purple Heart, a U.S. military decoration awarded to members of the Armed Forces who have been wounded in action. Casey was attacked in the courtroom twice, once when she was held at gunpoint in the season 7 episode "Raw" and again when she was choked in the season 9 opener, "Alternate". Casey revealed in "Influence," that she was once engaged to a schizophrenic man, but he refused to take medication, and she eventually left him. The last time she'd heard, he was homeless. The topic was mentioned again in "Blinded", when Olivia Benson accused Casey of letting her guilt over the experience cloud her judgment regarding schizophrenic sex offender Saul Picard. In this episode, Jack McCoy learns that Casey's former fiancé, Charlie, attacked her when he was off his meds, and she used her job as an ADA to make sure no abuse charges were laid. She tells Olivia that six months before, Charlie was killed in an accident, carrying her business card in his pocket. She expresses guilt, wondering if he'd still be alive if she'd stayed with him. She is also a Catholic, as stated in the season 8 episode "Haystack." In the season 9 finale "Cold", her conduct during the trial of a police officer accused of raping two illegal immigrants leaves her facing a lengthy suspension. In the season ten episode "Confession", Novak's replacement ADA Kim Greylek asserted that Casey Novak was disbarred for her actions. It was later revealed that she was not disbarred; she only had her license suspended for three years. She returned to the DA's office, but her trustworthiness was challenged on her first case back as she needed a conviction to restore her reputation. In the episode "Mean", while cross-examining a teenage murderer, Casey reveals her birthstone is sapphire, making her month of birth September. ADA Novak returned as a recurring character, along with ADA Cabot, in Season 13. She was last seen as the lead prosecutor in "Valentine's Day", in which she goes up against Defense Attorney Marvin Exley, who is defending a woman who seems to have fabricated her own abduction and rape. Trivia *She is currently the ADA with the second-longest tenure in the ''Law & Order'' franchise as a whole, with 113 episodes plus the episode of Law & Order: Trial by Jury in which she appeared. *Novak is a redhead, although she had her hair dyed strawberry blonde and blonde for some of her appearances. *She is Catholic. *Diane Neal remarked on Twitter that there was sexual tension between Casey and Detective Benson. *She is referred as a Senior ADA, as stated in the season 8 episode "Haystack". *She lives on the Upper West Side. *She was once in a relationship that led to domestic violence, as she revealed to Benson in season 7. *Casey has been physically assaulted five times in the series. She was assaulted twice in the courtroom, and once in her office, and she was also choked by a suspect and held at gunpoint at separate times. *Novak has the highest conviction rate of any ADA in the Law & Order universe. *She is possibly of Slovak descent. *She was censured for violating the Brady Rules in "Cold". *Novak was born in September, as revealed in the season 5 episode "Mean", when she cites her birthstone as Sapphire. *Her father was a doorgunner in the Vietnam War, and once took down a Huey. *Her initial return was cemented by a conviction, albeit a rocky one. *As of season 13, her tension with Benson seems to have escalated. This was particularly evident through their fight in the first episode in which she appears; Novak scolded Benson for pushing a confession out of someone, while Benson replies that the DA's office has lost their nerve. Appearances *''Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' (7 seasons, 113 episodes): **Season 5: "Serendipity" • "Coerced" • "Choice" • "Abomination" • "Control" • "Shaken" • "Escape" • "Brotherhood" • "Hate" • "Ritual" • "Families" • "Home" • "Mean" • "Careless" • "Sick" • "Lowdown" • "Criminal" • "Painless" • "Bound" • "Poison" • "Head" **Season 6: "Birthright" • "Debt" • "Obscene" • "Scavenger" • "Outcry" • "Conscience" • "Charisma" • "Doubt" • "Weak" • "Haunted" • "Contagious" • "Identity" • "Quarry" • "Game" • "Hooked" • "Ghost" • "Pure" • "Intoxicated" • "Night" • "Blood" • "Parts" • "Goliath" **Season 7: "Design" • "911" • "Ripped" • "Strain" • "Raw" • "Name" • "Starved" • "Rockabye" • "Storm" • "Alien" • "Infected" • "Taboo" • "Manipulated" • "Gone" • "Class" • "Venom" • "Fat" • "Web" • "Influence" **Season 8: "Informed" • "Clock" • "Recall" • "Uncle" • "Confrontation" • "Infiltrated" • "Underbelly" • "Cage" • "Choreographed" • "Scheherazade" • "Burned" • "Outsider" • "Loophole" • "Dependent" • "Haystack" • "Philadelphia" • "Sin" • "Responsible" • "Annihilated" • "Pretend" • "Screwed" **Season 9: "Alternate" • "Avatar" • "Impulsive" • "Savant" • "Harm" • "Svengali" • "Blinded" • "Fight" • "Paternity" • "Streetwise" • "Signature" • "Unorthodox" • "Inconceivable" • "Closet" • "Authority" • "Trade" • "Cold" **Season 12: "Reparations" **Season 13: "Blood Brothers" • "Double Strands" • "Missing Pieces" • "Valentine's Day" *''Law & Order: Trial by Jury'' (1 season, 1 episode): **Season 1: "Day" Category:Assistant District Attorneys Category:SVU Characters Category:TBJ Characters Category:Females Category:Crossover Characters Category:Former SVU Main Characters Category:Assault Victims Category:Abuse Victims Category:Hostages Category:Witnesses Category:Harassment Victims